An Exponential Neighborhood Local Search Algorithm for the Single Row Facility Location Problem

In this work we present a local search algorithm for the single row facility location problem. In contrast to other local search algorithms for the problem, our algorithm uses an exponential neighborhood structure. Our computations indicate that our local search algorithm generates solutions to benchmark instances of the problem whose costs are on average within 2% of costs of optimal solutions within reasonable execution time.

A Lin-Kernighan Heuristic for Single Row Facility Layout

The single row facility layout problem (SRFLP) is the problem of arranging facilities with given lengths on a line, while minimizing the weighted sum of the distances between all pairs of facilities. The problem is known to be NP-hard. In this paper, we present a neighborhood search heuristic called LK-INSERT which uses a Lin-Kernighan neighborhood structure built on insertion neighborhoods. To the best of our knowledge this is the first such heuristic for the SRFLP. Our computational experiments show that LK-INSERT is competitive and improves the best known solutions for several large sized benchmark SRFLP instances.

The Single Row Facility Layout Problem: State of the Art

The single row facility layout problem (SRFLP) is a NP-hard problem concerned with the arrangement of facilities of given lenghs on a line so as to minimize the weighted sum of the distances between all the pairs of facilities. The SRFLP and its special cases often arise while modeling a large variety of applications. It was actively researched until the mid-nineties. It has again been actively studied since 2005. Interestingly, research on many aspects of this problem is still in the initial stages, and hence the SRFLP is an interesting problem to work on. In this paper, we review the literature on the SRFLP and comment on its relationship with other location problems. We then provide an overview of different formulations of the problem that appear in the literature. We provide exact and heuristic approaches that have been used to solve SRFLPs, and finally point out research gaps and promising directions for future research on this problem.

Facility layout problem: Bibliometric and benchmarking analysis

Facility layout problem is related to the location of departments in a facility area, with the aim of determining the most effective configuration. Researches based on different approaches have been published in the last six decades and, to prove the effectiveness of the results obtained, several instances have been developed. This paper presents a general overview on the extant literature on facility layout problems in order to identify the main research trends and propose future research questions. Firstly, in order to give the reader an overview of the literature, a bibliometric analysis is presented. Then, a clusterization of the papers referred to the main instances reported in literature was carried out in order to create a database that can be a useful tool in the benchmarking procedure for researchers that would approach this kind of problems

Tabu Search for the Single Row Facility Layout Problem in FMS using a 3-opt Neighborhood

Since material handling agents in a FMS are most efficient when moving in straight lines, a common layout of machines in a FMS is a single row layout. This allows a floor designer to model the problem of generating an optimal machine layout in a FMS as a single row facility layout problem (SRFLP). Due to the computational complexity involved in solving the SRFLP, researchers have developed several heuristics to solve large instances of the problem. In this paper, we present a tabu search implementation based on a 3-opt neighborhood search scheme. We also present a technique to speed up the exhaustive 3-opt neighborhood search process significantly. Our computational experiments show that speed up of the 3-opt search is effective, and our tabu search implementation is competitive. The results we present here are better than the currently known best layouts for several large sized benchmark SRFLP instances, and competitive for other benchmark instances.

A Competitive Genetic Algorithm for Single Row Facility Layout

The single row facility layout is the NP-Hard problem of arranging facilities with given lengths on a line, so as to minimize the weighted sum of the distances between all pairs of facilities. Owing to the computational complexity of the problem, researchers have developed several heuristics to obtain good quality solutions. In this paper, we present a genetic algorithm to solve large SRFLP instances. Our computational experiments show that an appropriate selection of genetic operators can yield high quality solutions in spite of starting with an initial population that is largely randomly generated. Our algorithm improves the previously best known solutions for several benchmark instances and is competitive for the remaining ones.

Tabu Search for the Single Row Facility Layout Problem Using Exhaustive 2-Opt and Insertion Neighborhoods

The single row facility layout problem (SRFLP) is the problem of arranging facilities with given lengths on a line, while minimizing the weighted sum of the distances between all pairs of facilities. The problem is NP-hard. In this paper, we present two tabu search implementations, one involving an exhaustive search of the 2-opt neighborhood and the other involving an exhaustive search of the insertion neighborhood. We also present techniques to significantly speed up the search of the two neighborhoods. Our computational experiments show that the speed up techniques are effective, and our tabu search implementations are competitive. Our tabu search implementations improved several previously known best solutions for large sized benchmark SRFLP instances.

Global Approaches for Facility Layout and VLSI Floorplanning

This paper summarizes recent advances in the global solution of several relevant facility layout problems

Mathematical Optimization Approach for Facility Layout on Several Rows

The facility layout problem is concerned with finding an arrangement of non-overlapping indivisible departments within a facility so as to minimize the total expected flow cost. In this paper we consider the special case of multi-row layout in which all the departments are to be placed in three or more rows, and our focus is on, for the first time, solutions for large instances. We first propose a new mixed integer linear programming formulation that uses continuous variables to represent the departments’ location in both x and y coordinates, where x represents the position of a department within a row and y represents the row assigned to the department. We prove that this formulation always achieves an optimal solution with integer values of y, but it is limited to solving instances with up to 13 departments. This limitation motivates the application of a two-stage optimization algorithm that combines two mathematical optimization models by taking the output of the first-stage model as the input of the second-stage model. This algorithm is, to the best of our knowledge, the first one in the literature reporting solutions for instances with up to 100 departments.publishersversionpublishe